Mahmudullah recalled for Ireland series

Aftab Ahmed and allrounder Mahmudullah are the only changes in the Bangladesh squad for the three ODIs against Ireland. They replace Syed Rasel and Mosharraf Hossain, who featured in the recent one-day series against South Africa.

Aftab has recovered from the injury he suffered after top-edging a Jacques Kallis delivery onto his face during the Chittagong Test earlier this month. "Aftab is a mainstay in our middle-order and one of the more experienced members of the side," chief selector Rafiqul Alam said. "He has been declared 100% fit by the physio. His medium-pace bowling will also be useful."

Mahmudullah returns after having been discarded following a solitary ODI appearance against Sri Lanka last July. "He brings in a bit of variation as he bowls offspin. He is also a capable batsman," Rafiqul said. "Mosharraf hasn't done what we expected from him against South Africa and Rasel I would say was unlucky as we could only pick a squad of 14.

"We have gone for a team that has a lot of options in bowling, especially with the spin attack. The fact that batsmen like Shakib (Al Hasan) and Mahmudullah can be considered as front-line spinners as well is an added advantage for us."

The Ireland series presents captain Mohammad Ashraful with a great opportunity to pick up his first win - Bangladesh have lost all his previous nine games in charge. The first ODI is in Mirpur on Tuesday.

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